Fine driving: Australia’s ultimate foodie road trips

It’s no secret Australia is blessed with some of the most diverse scenic drives on Earth – no matter your climate preference. 

Whether you love rolling hills, wild waves, saffron-hued sand or rainforest canopies, there’s an Aussie road trip to inspire even the most nature-averse traveller. 

But there’s nothing quite like pairing beautiful scenery with truly scrumptious food, and luckily for us, our country’s best drives have that part covered too.

A study by Rollin' Car Insurance ranked Australia’s best road trips for foodies, with the top 10 including stretches in every state (though not territory) in the country. 

New South Wales’s Legendary Pacific Coast took the top spot, followed by South Australia’s Epicurean Way and Queensland’s Cairns to Cape York. 

Also in the top 10 were the Cape to Cape in Western Australia’s Margaret River region, Victoria’s Great Ocean Road and Tasmania’s Southern Edge. 

Rollin' Insurance head of marketing Annabel Causer said road trips gave people the freedom to explore in a way that they may not usually.

"Along the way, you can stop at whatever point for farm gates, bustling local markets or hidden-away eateries. For foodies, it’s the ideal way to experience paddock-to-plate culture, or uncover dining gems that may have been harder to find otherwise.”

The study analysed data from Google Maps and Instagram to rank 22 popular road-trip routes for their appeal to food lovers.

It included the number of food stops on each stretch, the distance between those stops and average user ratings on Google Maps, as well as the total number of posts geotagged by users on Instagram and TikTok.

The Legendary Pacific Coast road trip route.

The Legendary Pacific Coast – which stretches 1000km from Sydney to Brisbane – had by far the most tags on Instagram (116,420) and TikTok (2637). Along with having a large total number of food stops at 658 and a strong average rating of 4.2, it scored the highest overall at 76.9 out of 100. 

“The Legendary Pacific Coast is popular year-round thanks to its coastal scenery, surf beaches and temperate weather. High levels of tourism help to support a strong food scene with lots of well-rated cafes and local markets,” Causer said.

Next on the list was the Epicurean Way, a winding, wine-lovers' drive from SA's Clare Valley through the Barossa and the Adelaide Hills to McLaren Vale.

"The Epicurean Way also has seasonal appeal, and is popular during spring and autumn for wine tasting and regional food festivals," Causer said.

The Epicurean Way road trip route.

The Northern Territory missed out on getting a top spot, and in fact had the two lowest-ranked trips overall – the Nullarbor Plain and Red Centre Way. However, Causer said this was due to the sparsity of establishments rather than a lack of scrumptiousness found at each.

"It’s important not to assume that limited quantity means lower quality," she said.

"We can see this through the strong average ratings, 4.37 for Nullarbor Plain and 4.11 for Red Centre Way, as well as the growing social media interest, with over 5500 Instagram posts for the Red Centre Way alone. This suggests that even in remote areas, travellers are still having memorable food experiences.”

Tasmania's Southern Edge was the Apple Isle's sole entry in the top 10, but it took the top spot for food stops with the best ratings on Google Maps. It follows the coast from Hobart around to Cygnet and then inland up to Huonville.

Jemimah is Drive's Consumer Editor. She has more than a decade of editorial experience and has previously worked in property and lifestyle journalism for Domain, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and REA Group, among many other publications.

Read more about Jemimah Clegg